Digital print specialist, DTP, has recently invested in a new Ricoh Pro™ C5100S, taking the number of Ricoh print production presses in the company’s Edinburgh digital print production house to three. The new colour press, installed at the end of 2013, has joined a Ricoh Pro™ C751 and Ricoh Pro™ C901, both of which were installed a year earlier to replace a Kodak NexPress. Owner and managing director, Alun Joseph cited the new machine’s extended sheet size and high performance production capabilities as the key rational behind the company’s latest investment in Ricoh.

Says Alun Joseph: “We have developed a very strong reputation in the property marketing sector here in Scotland and it is a reputation we have worked hard to build. It is maintained through an absolute commitment to delivering the highest quality to our customers and consistently finding fresh ways to innovate and deliver new products that help them to stand out in a crowded market place. Our investment in the Pro™ C5100S late last year, is the latest step in an investment programme that has seen us move exclusively to Ricoh print production machines. The outstanding quality, wide substrate compatibility and intelligent personalisation features offered by the C5100S are already making a real difference to us and our customers, enabling creativity to flourish and adding real value to the finished product.

“We’re a family business with a heritage of over 30 years in the print industry and consider ourselves a pioneer in digital printing, having invested in our first digital print production machine in 1993. Today, the sectors we work in, like most in the industry, have experienced an overall drop in print volume over the last few years, but demands for print of the highest quality and greatest added value have increased dramatically. In my mind, this actually gives printers a real opportunity to get closer to customers by producing higher value, more dynamic, personalised and targeted print, rather than just relying on the old ‘high volume, small margin’ business model. The end result is a much more targeted and engaging product for customers and a much better return on investment for everyone along the chain. But, critically, you have to have intelligent and robust technology to lead change that enables you to deliver this. With a full portfolio of Ricoh presses now in operation, we certainly have the capability and versatility to deliver whatever our customers require.”

Launched in 2013, the Ricoh Pro™ C5100S digital colour cut sheet production system is ideally suited to those digital printers, copy shops and in-plants requiring a high performance digital technology with a small footprint for the on-demand production of high quality marketing materials, collateral, direct mailings and reports.

The Pro™ C5100S is the first Ricoh digital production printer to feature Ricoh’s enhanced toner transfer technology which delivers high quality print results on heavily textured stock – perfect for direct mail and marketing applications. Wide media compatibility is one of the many key benefits of these models. A new fuser assembly uses information from the media library to optimise the fuser temperature and pressure combination for each substrate increasing compatibility and quality of output. This is ideal for printing challenging applications such as envelopes, where the balance of pressure and heat is critical to maintain a flat and perfectly printed product.

Concludes Mr Joseph: “Our philosophy has always been to work closely in partnership with our customers. This is the best way to understand exactly what they need now, anticipate what they will need moving forward, and how we can always add value to the service we provide them with. In turn, this is what we also look for when we partner with our suppliers, and it is certainly what Ricoh provides us with. The local Ricoh account manager and service and support team here in Scotland are knowledgeable, very responsive and have a common sense approach to dealing with anything that arises. This is exactly what we were looking for in a partner as it gives us the assurance to invest and grow the business.”

Says Gareth Parker, Strategic Marketing Manager, Ricoh UK: “DTP has clearly been a long term early adopter in the digital print sector, investing in technologies that give them the ability to change, have a competitive difference and offer a better customer experience. We’re pleased this has continued with their investment in a Pro™ C5100S. This investment is a great complement to our existing relationship and we hope it will provide them with all the additional flexibility and production capacity they need to grow the business.”